Birch and Rochambeau both awoke to strange sounds inside the house, rather a feat since Birch had recently been sleeping so deeply that not even Torram and Min's frequent verbal wars were enough to wake her. Her hand fisted around the sheathed dagger beneath her pillow as the otter - more cowardly than his partner - burrowed deeper under the blankets and pretended he didn't have the slightest clue what was happening. He even faked a rather impressive snore, and earned an eyeroll in the dark from Birch. Hoping Tor wouldn't be silly enough to investigate on his own, she started to ease out of bed when the intruder, a far smaller invader than she'd expected from all the clatter, slipped into her room. She held her breath, waiting, but... Was that a cat? Her heart thudding hopefully in her chest (could it really be her?!), Birch slapped on the light as quickly as she could manage.
"Sperantia!" she cried, her face lighting up with a mixture of relief and welcome. "Where have you been? Everyone's worried sick!"
While that wasn't exactly true, and the lack of effort put into looking for her had been frustrating, Birch and Tor at the very least had been keeping a careful eye out for the sleek cat. After all, if it hadn't been for Sperantia and Mallos, Torram very well wouldn't have been here today. Discovering that the intruder was not someone to fear, Ro poked his head out from the blankets at the foot of the bed to look at her. Ro hadn't been with Birch when they'd first met, but he'd heard about their arrival a couple of times now and had been curious about the cat.
A sleepy-eyed Torram stumbled through the door, a wired-looking Minerva (who was always at her most alert during the darker hours) perched on his shoulder. He glanced at Birch, frowning, then his eyes fell on the cat and widened. He blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes.
"What... how...? You found her?" he asked confusedly.
"Found who?" Min asked, putting an owlish emphasis on 'who' without even muttering about it. Her lamp-like eyes found the cat and she clicked her beak in distaste. Apparently, her thankfulness at Tor's good health was limited. "Oh. The cat."
"Be nice, Min!" Ro chided, finally wiggling free of the blankets entirely but not quite daring to hop off the bed. He wasn't a big otter, though they were typically rather feisty all the same, and it seemed safer to keep a bit of a distance between himself and the professional hunter. "Don't you know who she is?" |